Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable....

Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.

Genesis 15:5

I decided to type something a little different here.I hope you find it fun!

Are there really UFOs?First, the definition – Unidentified Flying Object.Here we can make a distinction and define UFO in four separate categories:

1.Those which occur naturally.

2. Those which are man-made.

3.Those which are supernatural (such as angels), and…

4.Those which most people think of when they hear the term – intelligent life from another planet.

Now let’s take a look at the issue from a Biblical standpoint – that is, I’m already assuming the Bible is the true revelation of God to man (because it is!)There’s no doubt there are UFOs of the first category – natural and man-made.When something flies overhead and we don’t know what it is, by definition it is a UFO.In addition to the natural and man-made UFO, there really may be some that are visible manifestations from the spirit-world.As we can’t disprove this, we can at least assume it’s a possibility.This however is rather uninteresting to me because it’s based on speculation, often bordering on goofiness.But are there possibly those from number 4 above – intelligent beings from another world?Well, next we need to determine if there’s other life outside earth within God’s created order.Again, let’s look at the issue from a Biblical standpoint.First, let’s define possible life on other planets.There are two distinct possibilities:

1.Life with an intelligence and free-will such as humankind.

2.All other life – from goo to the zoo.

As the universe is chock full of other galaxies and each galaxy has a multitude (may we say a plethora – yes, let’s say a plethora) of stars, there’s no reason to think that God didn’t put life on other planets.However, there’s also no room to assume that He did.Therefore, we can only look out with awe and wonder to contemplate what really is going on in the far reaches of the universe.Are there garden planets interspersed throughout the heavens?Are there planets with all kinds of nifty creatures that even our Hollywood films couldn’t think of?Going on the first premise – that God may have put life on other planets – can we make a Biblical assumption as to whether it is intelligent or not (remember, intelligence here would include the ability to rationally think and would include free will.)Take your pick and then we’ll discuss it:

1.Yes

2.No

Ok, here’s what I believe must be the case.If you selected option number 1, you’re wrong.Therefore, by the process of elimination, we come to option number 2 as being the correct answer.If you chose option 2, stop and have a chocolate bar or some other tasty treat to celebrate your intelligent guess.

Why would I, Charlie Mr. Know-it-all Garrett, look out into the vastness of the created order and not imagine other intelligent life?What would the Bible say to lead me to such a fantastic conclusion?Here are some pertinent passages.Read them and see if you can come to the same conclusion I did. I'll give a little commentary for each passage to help you out:

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.Genesis 2:7God created man on the 6th day. Man was the final act of creation and in the account, only man is said to be made in "the image" of God. Further, the breath of life from God was what activated man. This, in contradistinction to all other life.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”Genesis 2:16, 17Only man was given an option to obey or disobey God. No other part of the created order was given this privilege.

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “ Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.Genesis 3:17, 18God cursed the earth because of man's disobedience. One part of God's "good" creation suffered because of the disobedience of another part.

What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?Psalm 8:4What is it about man that would capture God's attention - even after the fall. Man sent prophets and holy men throughout the ages to restore the fallen relationship. Finally, God sent His Son to make the restortion complete.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.John 3:16Amen!

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.Romans 8:18-22As mentioned above, God cursed the earth. However, Paul indicates that the "whole creation" was disrupted by our disobedience.

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.”The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.1 Corinthians 15:45-47Adam - from earth - sinned and creation fell; Jesus - from heaven - lived perfectly. This will allow complete restoration.

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.Hebrews 9:24-26Christ entered heaven from where creation originally proceeded to satisfy the heavenly requirements.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.Revelation 13:8Jesus' death was anticipated from the foundation of the world.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.Revelation 21:1 The fallen state of the original creation will pass away and a new heaven and earth will be realized.

Look at it from a Biblical standpoint.God created the universe.Somewhere in the vastness of it all, He placed a small blue planet with the perfect conditions to allow us to develop unimaginably complex systems by which to determine our surroundings – from a local to an intergalactic setting.He’s given us the perfection of placement in a thousand different ways to allow us to live, be cozy without freezing or burning up, weigh the entire universe and determine its size, see within and without our home galaxy (something that would be impossible if we were positioned almost anywhere else) and on and on.Truly we were expected guests.

The Psalmist of old was right to question, “What is man that You are mindful of him?”Somewhere along the line - whether it was 24 hours after he was created or 10 years later – Adam disobeyed God and God cursed the earth.No longer would it be a garden paradise.However, you may have noticed what Paul said in Romans 8.He knew that it wasn’t just the earth that was cursed.Rather, creation itself went out of whack.Obviously God knew this would happen and the Bible indicates this when it calls Jesus the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.You may have heard a pastor quote that at some point and indicate that before the world was created, Jesus was destined for the cross.This is a correct analysis and tells us that more is going on that one might imagine.

A few points as made above about Jesus:

He is the Son of God.

He is the only begotten Son of God.

He died once.

He entered heaven itself – this is not a part of our created universe, but is the presence of God, hence the term “heaven.”

His death was anticipated from the moment of creation.

The Bible states that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son and that He came to die once for the sins of mankind.Paul was so excited about it that he said the entire creation would be made right again because of this act.Revelation 21 confirms Paul’s statement.If all of creation was affected by the fall, we can with certainty state we are alone in the universe.

Taking each of these points in, one can logically come to no other conclusion than that the earth with intelligent man on it is the only point in the universe with such intelligent beings.As free will is (1) what distinguishes us from the rest of the created order (2) our free will is what caused creation to fall and (3) Christ came to die for (and thus correct) this bad free will choice, we then must be the only such beings in the universe.If God created other intelligent beings on other planets, they ultimately would have made the same bad choices thereby causing another “fall” of creation.This would require an atoning sacrifice there too.Because Jesus is fully God, it would be that He would have to (1) repeat His sacrifice for each group of wayward beings, or (2) they would have to be completely destroyed from God’s presence.Were the second option the case, what would have been the point in their creation at all?God, knowing the end from the beginning, would have created beings knowing they were destined for complete destruction.This is pointless and futile.A second possibility is that they never fell as Adam did.But, if all creation fell with the sins of Adam, then these “unfallen” beings would still be fallen and they would be living in a fallen world because all creation fell with Adam’s fall.This option makes even less sense.Therefore, despite the History Channel’s persistent efforts at finding UFOs flown by intelligent creatures from other worlds, there are none.

Despite the incredible vastness of the cosmos, earth is uniquely placed at the top of this creation.It is this tiny speck in the vastness of it all where God focuses His attention and His love.In fact, it holds such an important position that He sent His beloved Son here to correct what we so badly fouled up.All glory and honor belong to Him!

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Is not God in the height of heaven?And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!